If SEC wants to end storming field, tap beer
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey plans to address the surge in field stormings in the most American way: He’s formed a committee.
Earlier this month, Sankey announced the formation of an “SEC Event Security Working Group” that will examine how to keep fans from pouring onto the field or court to celebrate victories. The working group’s recommendations will be presented for approval at the SEC’s 2023 spring meetings.
One day after his big announcement, thousands of LSU fans rushed the field to celebrate the Tigers’ 32-31 overtime victory over Alabama. Videos showed fans with vacant expressions in their eyes, joy in their soul and almost certainly enough alcohol in their bellies to fuel a combustible engine.
If SEC leaders are serious about keeping fans off the field, they should start by hitting fans where it hurts most: Take away their Mich Ultras.
Skip the “working group,” and go straight for prohibition.
Currently, the SEC fines a member institution if its fans storm the field, an ineffective punishment. LSU fans rushed the field after two victories this season. Also, Tennessee fans stormed the field after beating Alabama. Interestingly, the SEC’s working group includes no representation from either LSU or UT.
I’m unconvinced the SEC needs to be more intentional about reducing field stormings. Rushing the field comes with a risk of injury, and precarious situations can arise for fans and players alike when thousands rush the field. However, I see the occasional field storming as one of college sports’ charms. I bet many college leaders would say the same, if dosed with truth serum.
But if the SEC wants to dial back these “spectator incursions,” as the conference labels them, here’s my suggestion: In addition to a school fine, if fans storm the field, the school is prohibited from selling alcohol at the next home game. Storm the field twice in the same season, and the penalty increases to no alcohol sales for the remainder of that season, plus the following season.
The threat of boozeless concessions stands should make fans think twice. Perhaps more important, it would encourage schools to increase their security efforts to keep fans in their seats. No school selling alcohol wants its beer revenue to get corked. Not only do alcohol sales supply concessions income, selling booze is an avenue to lure fans off their couches and into a paid seat.
Most SEC stadiums sell alcohol
The SEC lifted its prohibition on general concessions alcohol sales before the 2019 season, and alcohol is sold in general seating areas in 11 of the 14 SEC stadiums. Auburn, Georgia and Kentucky are the exceptions.
Imagine if the public address announcer had warned LSU or Tennessee fans with a few minutes remaining on the clock, “Fans, if you rush the field, you will not be able to purchase beer at the next home game!”
Maybe this would be futile. Perhaps only a National Guard deployment could keep fans from storming the field to celebrate beating Alabama. But I’ve seen how many Mich Ultras dot the stands during an SEC game. Surely the threat of losing concession stand access to booze would give fans more pause than the threat of a school fine.
I’m not naïve. I know alcohol found its way into SEC stadiums long before the conference lifted prohibition. Where there’s a thirsty fan, there’s a genius plan to duct tape a fifth of bourbon to the inside of a thigh.
Field stormings go way back. They predate the SEC. The first AlabamaTennessee game, in 1901, halted in the second half after a mob of Alabama fans stormed the field to protest a series of controversial offside calls. The game ended in a premature tie after officials could not restore order.
So, I don’t blame field rushings solely on alcohol sales. Other factors are at play, such as the joy of beating a rival combined with a desire to snap on-field selfies and upload them to social media.
Fines alone are not a deterrent
However, if the SEC is serious about keeping fans off the field, it must threaten them with something more punitive than a school fine.
LSU fans rushed the field after beating Ole Miss, a game oddsmakers predicted the Tigers would win, and then after beating Alabama. In total, LSU amassed $500,000 in fines.
Tennessee school officials scoffed at the $100,000 fine the SEC levied after Vols fans blanketed the field following UT’s first win over the Tide since 2006.
When someone asked UT System President Randy Boyd on video how much the Vols’ revelry would cost, Boyd smiled while holding a victory cigar in a stadium suite. “It doesn’t matter,” Boyd said as he looked down on the scene. “We’ll do this every year.”
Padlock the suds, though, and the joke will be on the offending schools and their field rushing fans.